Anti-poverty programs are up and running in Oswego thanks to nearly $400,000 in state funding through the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative. Last year, officials selected programs from local organizations to receive the funding.

Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow said they wanted to create programs that would help get people out of poverty and be self-sustaining.

“Our programs are developed around workforce development situations where we can help people get the skills they need to get a job and keep a job,” Barlow said.

Organizations that help impoverished central New Yorkers get an education, find jobs or decent housing are getting a boost from a pot of state money meant to help the poor.

Wayne O'Connor, of the Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection of Syracuse, said the extra cash will help expand his organization that focuses on workforce development, starting in the middle school years.

"It will enable us to hire five youth advocates, and some support for those advocates,” said O’Connor. “Every time we add more students, we grow the culture, we grow the program, so it’s significant."

The city of Syracuse has one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the nation. How does housing discrimination and segregation factor into that? This week on the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with Sally Santangelo, Executive Director of CNY Fair Housing. They discuss the many facets of housing discrimination in Syracuse and across central New York.

Utica residents got to weigh in recently on how the city will go about its effort to improve the lives of lower-income residents.

People packed the gymnasium at the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School during the poverty town hall meeting, casting their votes for five projects aimed at eliminating the barriers that prevent people from moving out of poverty.

The most popular project was a 24-hour child care center. Shamika Rather says she recently had to quit a job because of a lack of child care options.

Oswego is offering up to $400,000 to individuals, business owners and or organizations that can help the city combat poverty. It's part of the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative (ESPRI), which aims to help 16 cities improve the lives of their lower-income residents.

Last Month, NPR and PBS aired reports on two federal programs for low income housing, the low income housing tax credit program and Section 8 housing vouchers. The reports uncovered many shortcomings. This week, we explore how these programs are working in the Syracuse area. We're joined by Paul Driscoll, commissioner of Syracuse's Department of Neighborhood and Business Development, and Stephanie Pasquale, the department's deputy commissioner.

Two Democratic mayoral candidates in Syracuse have different perspectives when it comes to tackling the city's problems. One comes from one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, the other has built an organization that helps network more than 400 local, small businesses.

Construction will begin soon on Syracuse’s Near West Side to create OnTECH, a charter school targeted towards helping refugees and at-risk students get their high school diplomas.

OnTECH founder Ellen Eagen describes the mission of the school as “dovetailing this child who’s on the cusp of falling off of the educational pipeline with an employable skill set and with this idea of reengaging them with their curiosity in education.”

A third of the city of Utica lives below the poverty line, including 47 percent of its children. That is the starting point for the city's new poverty reduction initiative task force. At its first public forum last week, those involved with the project revealed that the problem is even worse for African American children, 72 percent of whom are affected.

As she prepares to step down at the end of the year, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner will give her state of the city speech on Thursday outlining her priorities for 2017. While the field is wide open for who will be the next mayor, some Syracuse Common Councilors are weighing in on what they would like Miner to focus on in the meantime.

Councilor Helen Hudson made her thoughts clear about running for mayor.

Politically, central New York will have something new when it comes to Congressional representation this year. For the first time in a decade, the 24th District, which represents Syracuse and surrounding areas, will have someone other than a freshman member of Congress representing it.

Democratic congressional candidate Colleen Deacon took part in a Latino business roundtable at the Spanish Action League in Syracuse Monday as part of her campaign against incumbent Rep. John Katko. Deacon brought Congressman Xavier Becerra of California to listen to the problems facing the local Latino community.

Poverty, education and housing ranked at the top of the list. In terms of what a member of Congress can do, Becerra gave the same answer to many of the issues.

For the month of October, "On the Media" presents "Busted: America's Poverty Myths; The Distorted View of Poverty in America and the Media's Role in Framing the Issue." Listen each Saturday during "On the Media" at 3 p.m. That's Saturday, October 1 through Saturday, October 29.

Newly-released data from the U.S. Census Bureau finds that Syracuse is among the top 30 American cities for poverty rates, 29th to be exact. More than a third of its residents and nearly half of its children live below the federal poverty line.

Religious and labor advocates rallied Monday at the New York state Capitol as part of a nationwide movement, known as Moral Mondays, urging state lawmakers to take more progressive stances on issues.

The Rev. Emily McNeill, who heads the Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State, said her group is not as concerned about the topics promoted by the evangelical right, including opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

Instead, she said, the groups are focusing on helping the poor, battling global warming, increasing voter participation, and rights for immigrants.

The idea that a morbidly obese person can achieve a healthy weight through willpower alone is outdated, according to Dr. Howard Simon, director of bariatric surgery at Upstate University Hospital.

People with morbid obesity (defined as a body mass index above 40) have a metabolic disease too complicated to treat with just drugs, diet or exercise; and most will regain weight lost through those methods, he says. Simon explains why bariatric surgery, combined with behavioral changes, has a high rate of long-term success.

A lack of transportation is one of the biggest obstacles for people trying to climb out of poverty. But now one Syracuse-area program that is helping fill that gap, is hoping to expand.

It’s been a year since Providence Services of Syracuse started a Ride to Work pilot program that helps unemployed people accept jobs they might not ordinarily get, because of a lack of transportation. And Providence President Deborah Hundley has been amazed at how quickly the participants have been able to wean themselves off a transportation subsidy.

The Syracuse Common Council has voted in favor of an ordinance that will require contractors working on city projects to hire 20 percent of their workforce from within the city. Proponents of the regulation say it is one tool to help reduce unemployment.

Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) laid out a plan he and others in Washington are working on to fight poverty across the nation. Katko visited one of the poorest neighborhoods in Syracuse Tuesday to hear from residents and explain what he thinks will help solve the problem.

Theotis Wallace, 23, dropped out of high school in 10th grade. He lives on the south side, is trying to take care of his son and is thinking about going back to school at Bryant and Straton College, which Katko encouraged him to do.

SUNY Upstate Medical University’s new president will be holding a series of symposiums to look for solutions to issues that face health care providers in central New York. Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena hopes a studying issues like poverty and mental health can help the medical community deal with them.

"Help me succeed in connecting us in a joint purpose in improving lives. Our region is small enough so that anonymity is not a problem. We can know each other and learn to problem solve together,” said Laraque-Arena.

The United Way of Central New York has organized a new anti-poverty coalition to identify the biggest hurdles to getting out of poverty and to come up with policy solutions. The coalition is made up of people from a variety of different nonprofit organizations in the area that work with those in poverty on a daily basis.

Several fires in Syracuse since the beginning of January have resulted in two recent fatalities, including that of a 13-year-old girl. One reason why more fires tend to occur during the winter season is because of makeshift heating sources.

Investigators said they are confident that unattended candles started the fire in Syracuse that resulted in the death of a 13-year-old girl. There was no heat or power in the home. Last week, a 31-year-old woman died after a fire was believed to have been started at or near the stove in the early morning.

New York's statewide poverty rate is 16 percent, but in upstate cities, that number doubles. In Syracuse, more than 1/3 of the residents live in poverty. Syracuse also ranks the highest nationwide for its concentration of minorities in poverty.